Party Escort Bot

The Party Escort Bot or Party Associate, is a mysterious pink-eyed core and android that was originally cut from Portal until it was later added into the game's ending as part of the March 3, 2010 patch.

Contents

Overview

During the events of Portal, GLaDOS refers to the Party Associate after failing her attempt to kill Chell at the end of the final test chamber. As Chell did not follow GLaDOS as the latter instructed her to "place the device on the ground, then lie on [her] stomach with [her] arms at [her] sides" which was described as the "party escort submission position", it is presumed that the Party Escort Bot was required to travel to the surface in order to retrieve her and "escort her to the party".

Prior to the March 3, 2010 patch, Portal ended with Chell slowly regaining consciousness on the parking lot above the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. Since the patch was added to bridge the gap between Portal and Portal 2, Chell is instead slowly and unwillingly dragged back towards the facility by the unseen Party Escort Bot as it thanks her for "assuming the party escort submission position".

The Party Escort Bot is seen briefly in the Portal 2: Lab Rat comic and was only partially depicted, revealed to be a core-based android with a pink eye.

Like most Aperture robots, the Party Escort Bot possesses a mechanical tone of voice.

Development and acting

According to Valve writer Erik Wolpaw, the Party Escort Bot was initially intended to be seen as an easter egg during the escape chapter of Portal. Wolpaw describes the bot as something that will "presumably come to collect Chell after she escapes the fiery death that GLaDOS had prepared for her".[1] Currently, the voice actor behind the Party Associate has yet to be named and may likely have been a part of the Valve staff.

Trivia

The Party Escort Bot uses a placeholder model in-game, named GhostAnim.mdl, which uses the texture of the bean cans found throughout the game. Shooting a portal on it or anywhere near it will crash the game. It was nicknamed "Bean Cube" during the Portal ARG.

The bot's line isn't subtitled.

The bot's line also isn't translated in other languages.

The track Party Escort from the Portal soundtrack is a reference to the Party Escort Bot.